Archived News:

Thursday, Sep 17, 2009

Steam News announces the
free weekend for the Unreal Tournament 3 Black Edition is now underway,
celebrating the tenth anniversary of the release of the original UT demo. The
UT3 game page has details
on the Black Edition, or you can just fire up Steam and get playing.

A thread
on the Steam Users' Forums discusses the recent disappearance of the 64-bit
version of Half-Life 2, which went missing at the beginning of this month
with no explanation. This left users unable to load saved games in progress, and
those who contacted Steam support were told the 64-bit version is no longer
available and got instructions how to enable cheat codes to get back to the
chapter they were playing in the 32-bit version. It took a while for us to get a
statement about this from Valve, who now confirm the 64-bit version has been
pulled, but do not explain why. They do, however, offer reassurances that it
will return, though at this time there is no estimate as to when that will
happen.

Cary, NC, September 17, 2009 – Just in time for the upcoming
holiday season, cdv USA will be bringing the fantasy epic Divinity II - Ego
Draconis to PC and the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from
Microsoft. This extraordinary action-RPG continues the epic and stirring tale
told by its best-selling predecessor in the Divinity series.

Divinity II - Ego Draconis combines action-packed, varied gameplay with a deep,
diverse quest structure that branches out into many directions, a world where
every decision has a consequence on how the game proceeds.

“Divinity II - Ego Draconis is a perfect fit for the North American market, and
we are very excited to be publishing it,” said Tom Gross, CEO of cdv Software
Entertainment USA. “Larian Studios is a well-respected developer and for this
reason we are very glad to be able to expand our US line-up this holiday season
with such a fantastic product.”

Tri Synergy
announces Farming Simulator, an upcoming simulation of the agrarian
life that does not yet carry a release date (sadly it does not look like
you'll be able to grow grapes for players of the just-announced Wine Tycoon). Word is: "Start in a sparsely-equipped farmhouse with old equipment
and set to work plowing, cultivating and seeding fields. With wise planning and
hard work, the resulting harvest will provide you with the financial resources
to better equip your property and increase your productivity!" A
product section for the game is online with screenshots.

The
Pixel Mine Forums have a very brief update saying the Fireteam Reloaded
servers will be shut down on September 30, saying: "We are going to shut down
the server before we move to the co-location. Thanks to all the players who
helped make this game fun to work on (2x)." With no details provided, we asked
Pixel Mine the reasons for ending this multiplayer action revival/remake of
Multitude's Fireteam, and received the following explanation:

Just like
the original Fireteam, the Reloaded version just never found the audience we
needed to sustain even the maintenance costs of the servers. Despite the game
being free to play, people just aren’t that interested unless it has the latest
and greatest graphics, which FTR obviously did not.

In
addition, today through September 21, LucasArts is offering a virtual treasure
trove of deals on several versions of The Secret of Monkey Island®: Special
Edition titles, including:

• 50% off the iPhone and iPod touch version of LucasArts’ new The Secret of
Monkey Island: Special Edition via Apple’s App Store

• 50% off The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition on Steam®, Valve
Corporation’s delivery and management platform for the PC and Direct2Drive, IGN
Entertainment’s digital download store Best ye’ jump on these offers smartly
before they expire!

LucasArts will also soon release a free “lite” version of The Secret of Monkey
Island: Special Edition on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPod touch as well
as a sound board application for iPhone and iPod touch that features 16 witty
and ridiculing sound-bites from The Secret of Monkey Island: Special
Edition.

As a bonus to the nearly
400,000 players who have preordered their copy of Aion, they will be treated to
server Pre-Selection (beginning tomorrow 18th September) and a five-day
Headstart period (beginning 20th September) allowing them to get a jump start on
their exploration and progression prior to the official launch on 25th
September. Players can still participate in Aion’s Pre-Selection and Headstart
programs by preordering the game through several participating online and
brick-and-mortar retailers.

It looks like Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is now available in
North America, though neither a release announcement nor an official North
American release date for 1C:Ino-Co's RTS sequel were ever issued. The game is
for sale at e-tailers like
Amazon and retailers/e-tailers like
GameStop, and for digital distribution via
Direct2Drive, Impulse, and
Steam. A playable demo
is available if you are looking for a sample, and LittleMe points
the way to a
Protection Walkthrough Part I and
Part II video on GameTrailers. Update: The official press release
followed this story, here it is, short and sweet:

Today, Paradox
Interactive is proud to announce that Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is
available for purchase in retail stores everywhere, as well as all major digital
distribution outlets. Fans of the original Majesty and newcomers alike now have
the opportunity to partake in the magical adventures found in Majesty 2: The
Fantasy Kingdom Sim.

For more information about Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, please visit
http://www.majesty2.com and follow @pdxinteractive
on twitter.

The
Dungeon Runners Website announces that NCsoft will be pulling the
plug on this fantasy-themed MMORPG on January 1, 2010 due to lack of
profitability (thanks
MMORPG.com).
Rumors that the subscription-free game might close surfaced last
year, but were later refuted almost a year ago to the day. This
time, however, it looks like there's no reprieve on the way. The update from the
Stephen Nichols, the Producer & Lead Programmer on the game is a "crap sandwich"
that surrounds the bad news with some niceties, including how the game will be
"going out in style," and plans to compensate paid customers with 30 day game
time serial codes and free digital copies of City of Heroes Architect Edition
and Guild Wars Prophecies and 30 days of free play in each. So if that's
the bread, here is the crap:

Now, it's time for the bad news. Dungeon
Runners just isn't cutting the mustard. If she were a ship, she'd be taking on
water. Yeah, she's been taking on water for a long time now. Are my cryptic
references too hard to decipher? The game just isn't profitable. And, the first
rule of business is to be profitable! Man, I must have missed that day in
business school... but I digress.

We've been trying to figure out how to fix things for some time now. And, that's
where things get sticky. We've got some ideas that could work. But, they're
expensive to implement and pretty risky. Those two facts, coupled with the
recent loss of some key developers, make achieving the success we seek pretty
much out of the question.

As things stand now, we're a three man team. Yeah, we lost two of our five man
team recently. Not nearly enough manpower to get where we need to be. Rebuilding
the team isn't really an option for various reasons. So, where does that leave
us? Can you guess? Yes, that's right, we're going to be shutting Dungeon Runners
down at the end of 2009. New Year's Eve to be exact.

The
Bethesda Blog offers new details on Fallout 3 DLC for the PS3 and the
Game of the Year Edition of Bethesda's action/RPG. They announce the release of
an update for the PS3 version of the game to address a number of issues and add
trophy support for the DLC, and say Broken Steel for the PS3 will be
available September 24, followed Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt
on October 1, and Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta on October 8.
The Game of the Year edition of the original game plus all five DLC packs is due
for all platforms on October 13, and they say: "The discs will include the title
updates you will need to play the DLC — so an online connection is not
required." They also announce US pricing, saying the console versions will
retail for $59.99 and the Games for Windows version will be $49.99.

A "State of the Game" update
on the Champions Online Website has the latest word on Cryptic's
recently launched superhero MMORPG. Topics include new content that's been
recently added to the game, several new additions they are working on to enhance
the teaming system, fixes to their mail woes, planned balance tweaks, how they
can't actually allow players to skip past the tutorial if they've done it already
until some further programming changes, plans for a new room for the Powerhouse,
and word on graphics performance improvements for all players, even if the
opposite seems to be the case for owners of high-end systems:

Graphics
performance should be better overall for players. Some high-end users have
experienced what appears to be a reduction in performance. But this is actually
due to us fixing a bug where sliders that were set all the way up in certain
categories weren’t actually providing that level of increase. Players with
top-end graphic cards should retune their settings for maximum
performance.

GameSpot.au reports that Left 4 Dead 2 is refused classification for
sale down under, as Valve's upcoming zombie shooter sequel is the latest game to
run afoul of Australia's restrictive rating system, which has rejected three
other games this year (Risen, Sexy Poker, and NecroVisioN,
though the latter two were approved following changes). The story also has an
update with the reasoning behind this, and indications this was not a consensus
decision:

The refusal largely focuses on the Board's interpretation of
the game's violence finding that "The game contains realistic, frenetic and
unrelenting violence which is inflicted upon "the Infected" who are living
humans infected with a rabies-like virus that causes them to act violently" The
ruling goes on to say that "However, it is the use of the "melee" weapons such
as the crowbar, axe, chainsaw and Samurai sword which inflict the most damage.
These close in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter,
decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact
is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore."

Interestingly the report also notes that "A minority of the Board is of the
opinion that the violence is strong in playing impact and therefore warrants an
MA 15+ classification with the consumer advice of strong violence," suggesting
the ruling was anything but unanimous among Board members.

Telltale Games reveals a September 29 release date for Lair of the Leviathan,
the upcoming third chapter in the episodic Tales of Monkey Island series.
They also have a
teaser movie demonstrating what "might" happen in the upcoming chapter in
the ongoing adventures of Guybrush Threepwood.

The Team Fortress 2 Blog
has a status report on Valve's teamplay shooter sequel. Valve's Robin Walker
describes how the TF2 team has been assisting on the completion of Left 4 Dead 2 as
they did with the first L4D game, but that they've improved their process to
keep some people working on TF2 this time around. He goes on to describe speed
bumps that have hindered their character modeling, but that they are updating
the Source SDK to include all the model and animation source for the Heavy to
get feedback on one character before proceeding further. He also gives status
reports on a couple of community-based Source engine projects, and offers some
new "Ubercharged" TF2 avatars designed by Dhabih Eng.

Flying Lab
Software announces they are expanding their workforce as they gear up to
expand their MMOG Pirates of the Burning Sea with a newly announced
Power & Prestige expansion. They offer information for those interested in
working in their lab, which flies over Seattle, WA, and the following on the
expansion: "Power & Prestige™ expands upon the game’s already robust real-time
Conquest system, allowing players to not only capture ports on behalf of their
parent nations, but also to become a Port Governor with great economic and
strategic influence. Player Governors can set tax rates and increase defensive
capabilities in their towns, making those ports more valuable as traffic hubs or
easier to defend against attack. Players will need to use all of the intrigue
and cunning at their disposal to seize or keep hold of power."

This
Battlefront.com Patches Page is now serving up a new patch for Theatre of
War 2: Africa 1943 to update the World War II strategy sequel to version
1.3.0. The 72 MB patch is for the Battlefront.com edition only, and here's an
overview: "This second patch to Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943 updates the game
to version 1.3.0 and includes the previous tweaks and improvements from the
v1.1.0 patch as well as a host of new fixes and features."

A new trailer for Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising shows off
multiplayer PvP action from Codemasters' upcoming military shooter. The clip
shows in-game battles using several weapons with a money shot at the end of a
little tank action. The clip is posted on the
YouTube.

Gaming addiction poses
'pandemic' threat takes the concept of "game addiction" further
(perhaps entirely over a pen of sharks) by quoting a Swedish "expert" that adds
the communicable disease analogy, saying this may be a "pandemic" (he is
actually more tempered, saying "I believe we’re dealing with a problem of
pandemic proportions"). This is not based on research, however, as it is
attributed to Sven Rollenhagen of the Youth Care Foundation (Stiftelsen
Ungdomsvård), an organization has been helping young people in Sweden
"recognize and manage computer gaming addiction" for two decades, meaning at one
point they were helping break addictions to games like Golden Axe, 688 Attack
Sub, and SimCity. A Game Over Website is
online to help stem the pandemic, which is available in English, German, and
French. Thanks
Digg via Ant.

The Secret World Combat System
Q&A Video on Ten Ton Hammer is a nearly five minute video interview with
FunCom at PAX, discussing the factions and combat system in the upcoming MMORPG.
Though this is a video, there's no gameplay shown, but they do some nice Ken
Burns pans over some concept art. One of the things we learn is that once you
join a faction, you cannot change, so if you decide to change factions, you must
start a new game. As for combat, they explain that though they are using the Age
of Conan engine, they've created a new combat system from scratch to support the
game's use of guns.

Guiding Shepard in Mass Effect 2 on Crispy Gamer is an interview with Mac
Walters, lead writer on Mass Effect 2, BioWare's upcoming sci-fi RPG
sequel. Topics include the duties of his position, allowing choices in how
Shepard is played (he is the commander, after all), their paraphrasing dialog
system, ME1 save games, characters, and more.

We're getting reports from Canadian readers of a local ad hogging CPU time. This
apparently only happens with certain browsers, so don't feel left out if it is
not impacting you, but if it is, our apologies. We are working on tracking down
this problem and eliminating it.